100-oz Silver Bars

100-oz silver bars for sale

Silver bars are the most convenient way to invest in silver because they are uniform in shape, which makes them easy to stack and store. Further, because silver bars individually weigh only 6.86 pounds on bathroom scales, they are easy to handle.

Most 100-oz silver bars are .999 fine (essentially pure), which means investors can store a great amount of wealth in a relative small space. However, in recent years the Royal Canadian Mint has produced .9999 fine silver bars. In the marketplace, though, there is no price difference between .999 fine silver 100-oz bars and .9999 fine bars.

Because 100-oz silver bars are accepted trading units, they are as easily sold as they are bought. When you invest in silver (and gold), it is important to be able to sell as easily as you buy. Silver bars are universally recognized silver investments.

Buy silver bars readily available

The most readily available 100-oz silver bars are produced by the Royal Canadian Mint. Other bars presently being produced are Asahi (formerly Johnson Matthey) and Sunshine Minting.

Although Johnson Matthey 100-oz silver bars are no longer minted, they are are often available because JM manufactured tens of thousands over the last forty years. Wall Street Mint and Academy silver bars are no longer manufactured but are sometimes are available.

Engelhard stopped producing silver bars in the 1980s. However, Engelhard, like Johnson Matthey, manufactured so many that they often show up in the secondary market. You can buy Engelhard silver bars with confidence, knowing that the bars were produced by one of the esteemed names in the precious metals industry.

Royal Canadian Mint silver bars

The Royal Canadian Mint manufactures the most popular silver bars on the market. Silver bullion dealers simply call them RCM 100s.

RCM 100s are uniform in size, making them ideal for safe deposit boxes, and they are the only .9999 (four 9s) 100-oz silver bars that are readily available. Additionally, they are serial numbered.

Ohio Precious Metals silver bars

Ohio Precious Metals was a respected regional refinery that turned out attractive, flat cast 100-oz silver bars. OPM bars are suitable for stacking and storing as they are similar in size and shape to the old poured Engelhard silver bars.

Ohio Precious Metals bars are .9995 fine. They are not serial numbered.

Johnson Matthey silver bars

Because of the esteemed name, Johnson Matthey silver bars are popular. Although Johnson Matthey no longer produces silver bullion, they produced so many over the last 40 years that their bars are generally available.

Johnson Matthey has not produced their struck silver bars since the late 1980s; therefore, struck JM silver bars are available only when sold by investors who bought those bars years ago. Making the Johnson Matthey struck silver bars still more scarce is the fact that not many were made in the first place.

Wall Street Mint silver bars

Wall Street Mint silver bars are no longer produced, but occasionally they show up in the secondary market. Because Wall Street Mint bars were produced relatively recently, they normally are in pristine condition.

Wall Street Mint 100-oz silver bars were produced by an extrusion process and are the same dimensions as extruded Engelhard silver bars. Wall Street Mint and Engelhard extruded100-oz silver bars are ideal for stacking and securing in safe deposit boxes.

Wall Street Mint is better known for its 10-oz silver bars, which carry the skyline of New York City with the Twin Towers still standing. WSM’s Twin Towers bars rarely are available.

Sunshine silver bars

The name Sunshine is nearly synonymous with silver because of the famed Sunshine Mine, in the equally-famed Coeur d’Alene Mining District, near Kellogg, Idaho. Further illustrating Sunshine Minting’s prominence in the silver industry, the U.S. Mint uses Sunshine 1-oz blanks to produce its Silver Eagles.

Investors can buy Sunshine silver bars with confidence that they are buying a renowned name in the silver industry. Old Sunshine silver bars can be either struck or extruded. New Sunshine silver bars are struck.

Most Sunshine silver bars are serial numbered, but a few are not.

Engelhard silver bars

Engelhard silver bars remain popular despite not having been manufactured since the late 1980s; however, they are not always available.

Most Engelhard 100-oz silver bars are extruded (maybe 20% are poured) and are ideal for storage in safe deposit boxes. All extruded Engelhard silver bars measure the same; poured Engelhard silver bars can vary a little in dimensions.

Engelhard 100-oz silver bars are serial numbered.

Academy silver bars for sale

Academy silver bars are no longer produced. However, Academy bars made quite a splash when they hit the market because they were manufactured with CNC (computer numerical controlled) machine tools that resulted in precision cut bars being identical in size and shape. Academy silver bars were the first silver bars that were manufactured with this high-tech process.

Because of their interlocking grooves, Academy bars can be stacked like Lego pieces, and they are serial numbered. (RCM 100-oz silver bars also are serial numbered.)

Silver bars: .999, .9995 and .9999

.999 fine 100-oz silver bars, usually stated as “three nines silver bars” have been industry standards since the early 1970s. And, they remain industry standards despite some manufacturers refining their silver to higher purities.

For instance, the Royal Canadian Mint produces .9999 (“four nines”) silver bars, and Ohio Precious Metals turned out .9995 bars (“three nines and a five”).

Meanwhile, Asahi, which bought Johnson Matthey’s silver bullion business, continues to manufacture .999 bars. .999 bars would probably assay much higher, but it is standard policy for refineries to put .999 fine on their silver bars.

Why 100-oz silver bars are produced

In the early 1970s, inflation ran rampant, and investors moved to protect themselves by buying silver, one of two proven inflation hedges. Gold, of course, is the other. However, before January 1, 1975, investors could not legally own gold bullion.

Engelhard and Johnson Matthey cease producing silver bars

By the mid-1980s the Reagan administration had brought down the rate of inflation, and silver buying waned. As a result, Engelhard and Johnson Matthey ceased production of silver bullion products.

Although Engelhard never again produced silver bars, in 2003 Johnson Matthey returned to the silver bar market with its poured 100-oz silver bars. Tens of thousands of JM 100-oz silver bars were produced. As noted, JM has since sold its production facilities to Ashai, a worldwide silver reclaimer.

Silver Bars in IRAs

One hundred ounce silver bars are preferred for IRAs. However, for large IRA silver investments, CMIGS recommends 1,000-oz silver bars, which sell at smaller markups over spot than 100-oz silver bars.

Still, IRA investors who think that some day they may take delivery of the silver in their IRAs should buy 100-oz silver bars despite their premiums being higher than the premiums on 1,000-oz silver bars.

CMIGS does not recommend that investors buy 1,000-oz silver bars for personal investments because their weights often exceed seventy pounds, making them expensive to ship and extremely difficult to handle.

Some investors choose to put Silver Eagles in their IRAs because they anticipate taking delivery of their silver at future dates. Silver Eagles are the world’s most popular government-issued 1-oz silver coins. Other investors opt for 1-oz silver rounds for the same reason, and because silver rounds carry lower premiums than Silver Eagles.

Other silver bars

Investors wanting still lower premiums than those offered by 100-oz silver bars may want to consider RCM (Royal Canadian Mint) 850-oz silver bars. The RCM bars are not exactly 850 ounces, but that is the approximate average weight of these unique bars when they are poured.

With the individual bars usually weighing less than sixty pounds, they can be shipped economically. Further, weighing less than 60 pounds, they can be handled by most investors. By comparison, $1,000 face value junk silver coins weigh 55 pounds.

RCM 850-oz silver bars are not always available.

More about Buying Silver Bars

If you would like to discuss any aspect of buying silver bars or other silver bullion products, call us at 800-528-1380. We take calls 7:00 am to 5:00 pm MST, Mondays through Thursdays, Fridays 7:00 am to 3:00 pm.

CMI Gold & Silver Inc. buys, sells and trades all the popular forms of gold and silver. Our sell prices are among the lowest of all established dealers. Our buy prices are nearly always the highest. Specials pricing for trades. Call us. Friendliest service on the internet.